WHAT’S AT STAKE

Society’s need for a broad array of talent has never been more urgent.

The confluence of a pandemic, severe unemployment, and racial injustice has exposed the daunting challenges ahead. Yet overcoming such challenges is what has made our nation successful. Quality of life as measured by income, civic participation, and personal well-being is highest among those with a college degree or other credential of value and lowest among those with a high school diploma or less. As human work evolves to require broader knowledge, skills, and abilities, the rewards for individuals with talent signified by possessing these credentials will only increase. Conversely, those without credentials beyond high school will face a declining quality of life and a downward spiral in their financial and social well-being.

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INCREASED FOCUS

Lumina will work toward three outcomes.

Lumina is committed to helping the nation redesign learning after high school to help an additional 6.9 million adults—beyond those who are already on track—earn the degrees, certificates, and industry certifications necessary to boost national attainment among working-age adults to 60 percent. We will concentrate on ensuring that adults, especially people of color, have access to programs that lead to meaningful credentials, that they have financial and non-financial support along the way to ensure their success, and that the credentials they earn lead to good jobs, higher pay, and greater opportunity to learn and serve others.

Our objectives:

Slide Deck

The Story of Lumina’s Work

Moving the nation toward a learning system for today’s student

This visualization highlights the strategies and tactics Lumina relies on to build a fair and just education and training system for today’s student that also meets society’s needs.

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Video

A ‘closing argument’ for the national goal of 60% of adults having more than a high school diploma by 2025

Since its launch 20 years ago, Lumina has focused on student access and success in the field of learning that takes place after high school. Today, that focus is more important than ever as society’s need for talent—and the drive to expand the proportion of Americans with quality education and training to meet this need—has grown more urgent. Read more »

Video still of Lumina President and CEO Jamie Merisotis with a backdrop of the downtown Indianapolis skyline.
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THE CLOSING ARGUMENT

We must reach the nation’s 60 percent goal.

The individual and societal benefits of a better-educated country must become a reality. By 2025, more people than ever must earn college degrees and certificates, industry-recognized certifications, and other credentials of value to prepare themselves for informed citizenship and success in a global economy.

To accomplish this, we will support and expand evidence-based practices that can meet the nation’s pressing needs. We will push hardest on equity-first strategies, those that are most likely to produce fairer results for people who are Black, Hispanic, and Native American. We will adjust—or phase-out—efforts that are not aimed squarely at accelerating learning gains within the next several years. And we will develop capacity to meet the education and training needs of individuals and society into and beyond 2025.

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